akinsgre

I know that this is a little much to expect from a forum post, but I'm not feeling to great about my training and am looking for some advice/support. Anything is appreciated.

I started a build period about 5 weeks ago. My mileage wen't from around 120 / week to 180 per week during that time.

Last week was a rest / recovery week. I only rode about 80 miles. I felt horrible all week. In fact, I think that my legs felt more sore as the week went on.

This past Sunday was the first day back in a "build" period. I rode too hard. My plan called for 1.5 hours at Base with a 30 minute tempo. I probably rode .25 at base and the rest at tempo.

Monday was 1.5 hours of Base. I was pretty tired, so I think I mostly pedaled at Base.

Tuesday was a criterium. I dropped about after about 7 miles because my heart rate was really high and wouldn't come down.

On the way home from the race and through the evening I checked my heart rate. It was still around 90 BPM even 3 hours after the race.

Today is a recovery day. My HR is still a little high (didn't check resting, but just sitting in my chair working it's around 68 which is about 10 BPM higher than normal.

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong, or what might be going on?

MDcatV

first impressions on very limited information, you're cooked and need more extended recovery. i often feel like a sack of crap during a rest week and first few days after, then things start clicking again. this is just a guess based on not knowing anything else about you, but in majority of cases, when things go sideways, it's due to inadequate recovery. take some more, like several days, of riding in active recovery zone for >90% of your rides, so ez the saddle hurts your ass and you feel like you'll fall over going up hills. use your little gears and spin.

if your HR is going way high and not coming down, that may be a medical issue that you should seek to be answered by going to see a dr.

Creatre

Sounds like you are tired. It's not necessarily a bad thing. If you want to improve, you have to wear yourself down. The first block of trying to train seriously is always the toughest. It takes a bit for the body to adjust. You are probably OK, you just need to realize those training days don't instantly turn into faster or easier riding.

rbart4506

That's been my reaction to rest weeks... Actually recovery rides in general. I always feel like a bag of crap, which makes sense, since I have worked myself over leading to the recovery period.

Ygduf

man, if I quit races because my HR was high I wouldn't finish many races.

take your HR off your race data screens, to start. Then sleep more and stick to your training plan. 5 weeks does not fitness make. 5 months is better, 5 years is great.

akinsgre

I wasn't watching HR.. I could just feel my heart rate; and like I said it was up and not coming down even when I was sitting in the bunch pedaling relatively easily. When I checked the rate afterwards it had gotten higher than I've ever seen it and didn't come down.

I've been training for longer than 5 weeks. I haven't missed more than 2 days in a row for 2 years. The last five weeks were just the current build/rest phase.

MDcatV

further points to:

Ygduf

^^ this

Sorry, I assumed you were new.

If you've been training long enough to know when something feels this off, maybe a visit to the Dr. to rule stuff out would help.

Creatre

I agree that your comment on not missing more than 2 days in a row for 2 years is a hint of something. You gotta recover.

But still, I don't think it's really all that awkward of a scenario. Training creates stress. That is a good thing, so you can make adaptations. Plus, my experience, and the experience of most of the people I have coached, is that HR actually decreases when training is getting tough. I can literally be doing z2 at like 20-30bpm less than if I'm coming off a recovery week. High HR to me means that you are just fresh. But heart rate is a hard metric to go off of alone. If you aren't irritable, causing problems at home, excessively tired, then you are probably fine. Don't have to overthink it.

MDcatV

in my experience, not if it isn't coming back to normal quickly. high is a relative term, but i've correlated freshness with fast response of the HR, meaning it responds in both directions quickly and commensurately with the effort. staying high post effort would be a red flag for me.